LIU Post Claws Its Way into MD2 Tourney

Not only are Conor Whipple
(above) and Tampa heading to the NCAA tourney for the first time,
they'll also get a home game. (Tampa Athletics)

LIU Post started the season with a 6-5 record, but it finished
with a 3-0 kick, including taking home the hardware from the
inaugural East Coast Conference tournament. That proved to be
enough to get the Pioneers into the eight-team NCAA Division II
men's lacrosse tournament, which was announced on Sunday
evening.

The Pioneers (9-5) will be traveling to Syracuse to face
defending national champion and second-seeded Le Moyne (13-2) in
the quarterfinals, which begins on May 10. The Dolphins lost in the
Northeast-10 semifinals to Merrimack, but were able to hold onto
the second slot in the North. Last year, the script was flipped as
Le Moyne was the third seed in the bracket and had to travel to LIU
Post on its way to the title.

Adelphi (16-1) grabbed the top spot in the North after subduing
Merrimack in overtime of the Northeast-10 championship game. It's
the second straight season that the Panthers have grabbed top
honors in the North bracket, and they host Long Island neighbor
Dowling (12-4) in the first round. The Lions were a little wobbly
late in the season, losing a pair of games to LIU Post and needing
a furious rally in the waning minutes to beat Chestnut Hill in the
ECC semifinals, but were bolstered by early season wins over
Merrimack and NYIT.

Both Merrimack and, more so, NYIT, had strong cases for
admission to the NCAA tournament. In a bitter irony, NYIT was a
near-lock for the tourney at the end of the regular season, but
were undone by the first-ever ECC tourney, in which they lost in
the first round.

On the South side of the bracket, Limestone (16-1) breezed to
the No. 1 seed, with the only blemish on the record coming early in
the season to Le Moyne, a non-regional foe. The Saints were paired
up with former Conference Carolinas rival Queens (N.C.) in the
first round. The Royals (12-4) won the inaugural South Atlantic
Conference title, and parlayed regional wins over Pfeiffer and
Mercyhurst into the first NCAA berth in program history.

In the other South match-up, Tampa (15-2) – in just its
third varsity season – will be the second seed and host
third-seeded Mercyhurst (12-3). The Lakers thumped the Spartans
during the regular season, 14-7, and stood ahead of Tampa in the
last regional ranking, but Mercyhurst's semifinal exit from the
ECAC tournament was enough to send them to Florida in the first
round.

This year's field features most of the traditional heavyweights
in the division. Adelphi (7), Le Moyne (4), LIU Post (3), Limestone
(2), Mercyhurst and Dowling have combined to win 18 of the last 24
national championships. NYIT, which just missed out on admission
this year, has four of the six missing titles in that span.

The NCAA Division II national championship game will take place
on Sunday, May 25, at 4 p.m. at M&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore,
Md.